Posted: September 13th, 2017

Philosophy and Planning

Philosophy and Planning

Details of the Setting
V attends a preschool within the area of Casula. The setting caters for up to 20 children daily. The indoor setting consists of a small art room, limited small areas around the group time area such as dramatic play, playdough, puzzles, writing and block corner. The outdoor environment allows the children to run around freely between the sand pit and the obstacle course. The centre is located within short distance of the local library and shopping mall. The diverse languages and cultures identified and spoken within the community and centre include English, Lebanese, Indian, Chinese, Spanish and so on. Based upon conversations with staff, the children’s current interests are pirates or oceans, bugs, sea animals and cooking. Creative arts is implemented daily within the art room based on the program but is very limited in ways as there isn’t much continuity or range for the children to engage with as the staff always set up paint with paint brushes and an easel. In addition, the centre’s program focuses upon the use of natural resources and implements this with creative art experiences, however the purpose behind the activity is unclear as staff tend to take over and encourage the children to make decorations for the indoor and outdoor environment. The children respond to these creative art experiences with enthusiasm and patience.
Details of Focus Child
V is the youngest of her large family as it consists of two parents, two older brothers and two older sisters. V comes from a Spanish background and has close contact with her extended family within her everyday life. V demonstrates an interest within the creative arts such as drawing, writing and painting. However, the program provides a limited range of experiences within the creative arts domain and there are few group-based activities with the focus of dancing or opportunities for the children to engage with musical instruments. At group timesthe same songs are sung and at numerous times throughout the day. V displays an interest in animals as she brings from home some of her favourite toy animals. V engages with visual art based experiences in the art room daily, with the interest and goal of drawing pictures for her family to take home upon departure from the centre. In regards to creative arts, V displays her development with the inclusion of creative dispositions as she begins to draw circle like figures in her drawings to represent people, movements are controlled, attempts to follow and repeat the actions used in songs implemented during group times, can recite songs verbally and verbalises the events on the weekend in detail like a story (Shirrmacher& Fox, 2009). V’s dispositions include enthusiasm, commitment, curiosity, confidence and persistent (Arthur, 2010).

Planned Experience 1- Dramatic Play (Drama)
Date- 7th of September 2012
Learning Focus
This experience focuses upon the children using their imaginative skills in their creative development as they use their creativity to visualise themselves in situations such as out at sea or within the water with dangerous animals. This experience will incorporate a dramatic elements such as contrast, focus and tension,as the children engage, create, present and respond to their understanding of this natural world, how this world relates to them and identify the possible experiences they can participate in within this environment (Dunn & Stinson, 2012, cited in Wright, 2012).
Rationale
I will be implementing an experience relating to dramatic play as the children will be given hand’s on resources such as snorkels, goggles, and life jackets. I am implementing this experience as the children like to imagine they are out at sea in a rocking boat, this is based upon the children’s emerging interests in sea animals. This experience will be implemented within the outdoor environment within the boat as the children can use the life jackets as a safety measure. It is essential for the children to learn about these safety pro-cautions if they are ever at sea or in a boat. The teaching strategies that will be integrated throughout this experience is a modelling and scaffolding technique as I will model the correct safety procedures when in the boat and asking the children questions by encouraging them to correct me and others speculations.

Resources
• Snorkels
• Goggles
• Life Jackets
• A blue tarp
• A boat
• Flippers
• Books

How will I interact with the children to support their learning?
The important aspect of this experience will be the setup as it needs to stimulate and entice the children’s creative development based on their current interests in sea animals, pirates and oceans. The staffs have informed me that they would like a learning centre nearby for the children to refer to with the focus of enhancing their interest and engagement within the experience. This learning centre will include books of sea animals with several images of the animals, story books based upon going to the beach, adventures of swimming in the ocean, toy animals, sand and so on. The experience will also incorporate a strategy or technique as the children begin to view things differently as they don’t need to be at the beach to swim in the ocean or see sea animals, this all relates to being creative and extending upon our creativity (Schirrmacher& Fox, 2009). As an educator, I will provide opportunities for the children to guide the experience based upon their interests and creativity rather than me telling them what to do as this will not be very beneficial for their learning within the area of creative arts. The children will also be encourage to engage in a discussion about safety procedures and the dangerous animals living within this natural environment.

Evaluation Questions
? Was the experience age or developmentally appropriate?
? Was the resources age appropriate?
? Did the children engage successfully or demonstrate any drama elements during their engagement? If so, which ones? (Wright, 2012, Edwards, 2002 &Schirrmacher& Fox, 2009)
? Did the children role play or improvise any scenarios?
? Did the setup stimulate the children’s engagement within this experience?
? How did the children respond to the experience?
? What could be improved or changed if implemented again?
? Were the resources useful to foster the children’s creative development?
? Were the teaching strategies effective? If so why?
? Was locomotor and non-locomotor movement used? If so how?
? Did the educator support children’s learning throughout the experience?
? What did the children learn about drama or the creative arts?
? Did the resources assist the children to engage and stimulate their interests?
? Were the children provided with time to engage with the resources effectively?
? Did the experience extend upon their current interests?
? Was the experience flexible?
? Did the educator engage or scaffold within the experience? If so how?
? Did the resources meet health and safety requirements?
? Was the learning centre an effective addition to the experience?
? Did the children learn anything about safety procedures?
? Were the teaching strategies of scaffolding and modelling effective? If so how?
? What follow up experiences can be relevant to extend upon the children’s interests?
? Did the experience relate to any of the children’s funds of knowledge or prior experiences?
? What did the stakeholders say?

Planned Experience 2- Spray Bottle Painting (Visual Arts)
Learning Focus
This experience provides opportunities for the children to experiment with other forms of painting instead of using the usual paintbrush. This experience relates to the children’s creative development as they use other mediums to represent their ideas and interests in the form of painting. Also, it relates to form, shape and colour and to their hand/eye coordination as they use a triggering finger movement and small hand movements in this experience in comparison to holding a paintbrush and dabbing it on paper.

Rationale

The experience I will be implementing will be set up in the outdoor environment to reduce the risk of mess on an easel. The children will need to use their hand/eye coordination skills as they manoeuvre the spray bottle across their paper while using the trigger button to spray the paint. I will be setting this experience with a range of colourful watered down paint so that it is runny for the children to use. Throughout this experience, I will be using a modelling, scaffolding intentional teaching technique to show the children how to use the equipment and encouraging the children to show other children how to use the equipment if they are unfamiliar.

Resources
• Paint
• Spray Bottles
• Paper
• Easel
• Aprons
How will I interact with the children to support their learning?
This experience requires supervision as the children may get carried away with the spray bottles and begins to spray other things. However, children need to be provided with opportunities to express themselves in a variety of ways and this is what visual arts provide for children (Cherry, 1972). In addition, art based experiences provide children with a range of opportunities to strengthen their fine motor skills as they manipulate objects through art mediums (Schirrmacher& Fox, 2009). As an educator, I want to model the appropriate behaviour and scaffold children’s learning through this art medium as they experiment freely with the open ended resources provided. I will encourage the children to participate in this experience and focus on making it meaningful and enjoyable for their learning and development as they make decisions and problem solve about when is the time to stop. It is essential to ensure that the environment and resources are supportive, age appropriate and open ended as this will foster their creativity (Compton, Johnston, Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2010).

Evaluation Questions
? Did the children learn about any of the art elements? If so which ones? (Wright, 2012, Edwards, 2002 &Schirrmacher& Fox, 2009)
? How did the children engage within this experience?
? Was the experience age or developmentally appropriate?
? Was the resources age appropriate?
? What aspects of their creative development were evident during the experience?
? Did the setup stimulate the children’s engagement within this experience?
? How did the children respond to the experience?
? What could be improved or changed if implemented again?
? Were the resources useful to foster the children’s creative development?
? Were the teaching strategies effective? If so why?
? Did the educator support children’s learning throughout the experience?
? What did the children learn about visual arts or the creative arts?
? Did the resources assist the children to engage and stimulate their interests?
? Were the children provided with time to engage with the resources effectively?
? Did the experience extend upon their current interests?
? Was the experience flexible?
? Did the educator engage or scaffold within the experience? If so how?
? Did the resources meet health and safety requirements?
? Were the teaching strategies of scaffolding and modelling effective? If so how?
? What follow up experiences can be relevant to extend upon the children’s interests?
? Did the experience relate to any of the children’s funds of knowledge or prior experiences?
? What did the stakeholders say?

 

 

 

 

 
Planned Experience 3- Skipping and other social games (Dance)
Learning Focus
The learning focus for this experience is to provide opportunities for the children to engage in other forms of dancing with the addition of moving as the children are rarely provided with opportunities to engage in group based physical activities. There will be a focus on action, space, time and dynamics.
Rationale
The purpose for this experience is to observe how the children engage in a physical activity as they use their loco-motor and non-loco-motor skills. The movement that will be focused and observed is their ability to jump, step, run, walk, skip, bend and their ability to control their speed during the experience. In addition, the activity aims to provide insights into the children’s knowledge and understanding of the elements involved in dancing such as action, space, time and dynamics. Dancing requires a collection of movements that can be creative with the use of their imagination as it also includes spatial awareness, physical skills and decision making (Compton, Johnston, Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2010). Music also provides another medium to dancing as it provides a beat, speed and can inform certain movements (Wright, 2012).
Resources
• Skipping rope
• Children
• Space (outdoor environment)
• Music (if possible)

How will I interact with the children to support their learning?
I will work in collaboration with other students and staff to implement this experience as I cannot hold the rope by myself. I will encourage the children to experiment with different speeds while moving the rope to observe their abilities as they jump over or through it. If possible, I will include music within the experience to further the children’s creative development as we can experiment with the tempos and provide opportunities to challenge their loco-motor skills. As an educator, I will model how to jump over the rope and scaffold their learning if experiencing difficulty but also I may verbalise different movements such as “How can we jump like a kangaroo?” or “How can we run like a zebra?” as this will encourage and foster the children’s creativity. It is important that the questions asked need to be open-ended (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett& Farmer, 2012).

Evaluation Questions
? Did the children learn about any of the dance or music elements? If so which ones? (Wright, 2012, Edwards, 2002 &Schirrmacher& Fox, 2009)
? How did the children engage within this experience?
? Was the experience age or developmentally appropriate?
? Was the resources age appropriate?
? What aspects of their creative development were evident during the experience?
? Did the setup stimulate the children’s engagement within this experience?
? How did the children respond to the experience?
? What could be improved or changed if implemented again?
? Were the resources useful to foster the children’s creative development?
? Were the teaching strategies effective? If so why?
? Did the children improvise any movements?
? Did the children experiment with their loco-motor and non-loco-motor skills?
? Was the music was successful addition to the experience? If so how?
? Did the educator support children’s learning throughout the experience?
? What did the children learn about dance and music or the creative arts?
? Did the resources assist the children to engage and stimulate their interests?
? Were the children provided with time to engage with the resources effectively?
? Did the experience extend upon their current interests?
? Was the experience flexible?
? Did the educator engage or scaffold within the experience? If so how?
? Did the resources meet health and safety requirements?
? Were the teaching strategies of scaffolding and modelling effective? If so how?
? What follow up experiences can be relevant to extend upon the children’s interests?
? Did the experience relate to any of the children’s funds of knowledge or prior experiences?
? What did the stakeholders say?
? How can you further this learning and relate it to creative arts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planned Experience 4- Musical Instruments (Music)
Learning Focus
The learning focus of this experience is to introduce some of the elements of music such as “pitch, rhythm, tempo, texture and dynamics” (Compton, Johnston, Nahmad-Williams & Taylor, 2010) as the children interact with various musical instruments in the outdoor environment.

Rationale
It is important for children to learn about music as music provides a form of communication and this will be incorporated with the use of musical instruments. The children have already begun to further their musical development as they listen and sing with the educators during group times. The children begin to become aware of the tempo and rhythm when music is played on the CD player as they acknowledge and understand that when the beat is quick it means move quick and when its slow it means move slow. According to Schirrmacher& Fox (2009) moving to music is a stage in children’s musical development as it encompasses their loco-motor, non-loco-motor skills and fosters creative movements.

Resources
• Musical Instruments (Tamborine, Xylophone, Wooden Sticks, drums and Bells)
• Music
• Space (outdoor)

How will I interact with the children to support their learning?
During the implementation of this experience, I will sit down with the children and will support their musical learning as we experiment with the various musical instruments. I will ask open-ended questions to the children to foster and encourage a discussion based upon “How do you use that instrument?, What do you think this instrument is called? What kinds of movement do you think would go with that instrument?” And so on. I will also discuss with the children the elements of music such as beat as we experiment with fast and slow, pitch (loud and soft), rhythm (with the use of hands encourage the children to copy). The discussion and children’s involvement within the experience will encourage and foster their musical development as they become aware of these musical elements.

Evaluation Questions
? Did the children learn about any of the music elements? If so which ones? (Wright, 2012, Edwards, 2002 &Schirrmacher& Fox, 2009)
? How did the children engage within this experience?
? Was the experience age or developmentally appropriate?
? Was the resources age appropriate?
? What aspects of their creative development were evident during the experience?
? Did the setup stimulate the children’s engagement within this experience?
? How did the children respond to the experience?
? What could be improved or changed if implemented again?
? Were the resources useful to foster the children’s creative development?
? Were the teaching strategies effective? If so why?
? Did the children improvise any movements?
? Did the children experiment with the beat, rhythm or pitch?
? Was the music was successful addition to the experience? If so how?
? Did the educator support children’s learning throughout the experience?
? What did the children learn about music or the creative arts?
? Did the resources assist the children to engage and stimulate their interests?
? Were the children provided with time to engage with the resources effectively?
? Did the experience extend upon their current interests?
? Was the experience flexible?
? Did the educator engage or scaffold within the experience? If so how?
? Did the resources meet health and safety requirements?
? Were the teaching strategies of scaffolding and modelling effective? If so how?
? What follow up experiences can be relevant to extend upon the children’s interests?
? Did the experience relate to any of the children’s funds of knowledge or prior experiences?
? What did the stakeholders say?
? How can you further this learning and relate it to creative arts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
References

Arthur, L. (2010). The Early Years Learning Framework: Building confident learners.

Canberra: ECA.
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2012). Programming

and planning in early childhood settings (5th ed.). South Melbourne: Cengage

Learning.
Cherry, C. (1972).Creative Art for the Developing Child: A Teacher’s Handbook for

Early Childhood Education.California:David S. Lake Publishers.
Compton, A., Johnston, J., Nahmad-Williams, L. & Taylor, K. (2010).Creative

Development. Continuum International Publishing Group.
Edwards, L.C. (2002). The Creative Arts: A Process Approach for Teachers and

Children. (3rded.) Merrill Prentice Hall.
Schirrmacher, R. & Fox, J.E., (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young

Children. (6thed.) United States: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Wright, S. (Ed.). (2012). Children, meaning-making and the arts (2nd ed.). Frenchs

Forest, Australia: Pearson Australia.
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